Engineering professor Henry Petroski will examine historical cases of human error and engineering failures during a presentation titled “Success and Failure in Engineering” at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 29 in McCrary Theatre on the Elon University campus.
Petroski is a professional engineer who serves as the Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor in the department of civil and environmental engineering at Duke University. Petroski has also served as a group leader at Argonne National Laboratory, where he was responsible for research and development relative to fracture mechanics.
Petroski is the author of “To Engineer is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design,” a book that resulted in a BBC television documentary. He has written more than 10 books and published more than 70 papers in the field of engineering. His research has been sponsored by the Corps of Engineers, the National Science Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and other organizations.
Petroski’s presentation is part of the Voices of Discovery science speaker series, sponsored by Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences. The series invites noted scholars in science and mathematics to Elon to share their knowledge and experience with students.
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